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Wyborn Lovat
Wybourne 'Wybie' Lovat, a supporting character, was put into the film for Coraline to have someone to talk to. As Neil Gaiman, acclaimed author of the novella from which this film is adapted, puts it, "Wybie is there so that you don't have a little girl walking around occaisionally talking to herself." Henry Selick says he needed someone for her Coraline to share all her thoughts and feelings with. Since the film makers did not want the film to be narrated, and because movies do not give audiences a direct insight into the character's thoughts and feelings like in books, a character like Wybie was essential. Henry Selick describes him as "the neighbor kid". Like all of Coraline's new neighbors, Wybie is a bit weird to her, and constantly gets her name wrong (he even resorts to giving her a nickname, Jonesy, which she disliked even more). Although he was not a character in Neil Gaiman's novel, Wybie plays important roles in the movie. His grandmother is the landlady of the Pink Palace, and seemingly his guardian (his parents aren't ever mentioned, perhaps because they have no part in the story). He is the one who gives Coraline the doll that turns out to be a way for the Other Mother to spy on her victims' lives. He says the doll belonged to his grandmother's sister, a fact he hadn't known when he'd given it to Coraline (presumably he thought, given its appearance, the doll had been meant as a gift from his grandmother to Coraline: "Well it looked just like you, and I figured..."). After Coraline has visited Miss Spink and Miss Forcible, she meets up with Wybie, who tells her about his grandmother's lost twin sister who was assumably 'stolen' when they were children, forcing Miss Lovat to believe the house was dangerous for children. Wybie is also the only one besides her parents to whom Coraline confinds in about the Other World, although he doesn't believe her at first. He is later convinced she was telling the truth when his grandmother shows him a picture of her and her missing twin sister, and sees that the girl fits Coraline's discription of her. Near the end of the movie, it can be infered that the black cat woke Wybie up in the middle of the night to look for Coraline (Wybie: "It wasn't my idea stalk Coraline.." Black cat appears) and Wybie arrives just in time to help Coraline get rid of the Other Mother's hand. At Coraline's garden party, he brings his grandmother with him, because he and Coraline plan to tell her everything about what had happened the night before. 'Appearance:' Wybie is around eleven or twelve years old, with curly brown hair and olive green eyes. He is of biracial descent (as is his grandmother) and his outfit consists of a black fireman's jacket and overlarge skeleton gloves that match his skull-painted helmet, which he wears either over his face like a mask or perched on his head (depending on whether he is riding his motorbike). The helmet has a three-piece turret lens that can be rotated with a crank. The bike he uses to patrol the woods is battery-powered and handmade. That, and the fact that his helmet resembles a welder's mask, show that Wybie likes to work with metal. To more observant audiences, Wybie is constantly seen in a hunched posture, and his head is always tipped to one side, this likely caused by spinal defect. 'Personality:' Wybie is a nervous, quiet but talkative neighbor. Presumably he's been friendless for quite some time , and has become considerably lonely. Despite this, he cares deeply for his grandmother, coming when she called no matter how much it annoyed him. He is eager to try to make friends with his new neighbor, although he's not very good at it, ending up talking too much and becoming deaf to anything she has to say. Wybie also reveals a bit about himself when he's around Coraline, like the fact that his grandmother won't let him inside the Pink Palace and, unintentionally, how glum that makes him feel. Ergo, he manages to say all the things that get on Coraline's nerves, and his words fidget as much as he does when he talks (Wybie: "Y-you remember that-that old doll I gave you?..Uh.."). He has a soft spot for the black cat, although he claims it is feral and is not really his, and his affections for Coraline are more apparent throughout the movie than Coraline's affections for him. 'Role:' Like most of the inhabitants of the Pink Palace, Wybie has an alternate version of himself that resides in the Other World, created by the Other Mother to help lure Coraline into her web (metaphorically speaking, even if it is part true). The Other Wybie becomes Coraline's willing companion in the Other World. Throughout their time together, the Other Wybie's feelings for Coraline become stronger than his loyalty to the Other Mother, and he refuses to smile because he knows what will happen to Coraline. As punishment, the Other Mother pulls up the corners of his mouth and sews them in place, giving his face a forced and horrible smile. Despite that he comes back to free Coraline from the room behind the mirror and helps her escape back to her world. Although she asks for him to come with her so that the Other Mother could inflict no further harm on him, he refuses and reveals that, like most of the things in the other World, he is made of sand, explaining that he it was too late to save him from being harmed and it would make little difference anyway. When Coraline still refuses to leave without him he pushes her into the corrider behind the door and closes it behind her before the Other Mother could catch her. Later, while Coraline is looking for ghost eyes, the Other Wybie's clothes are seen hanging infront of the Other Bobinsky's door, put there by the Other Mother to intimidate Coraline and indicating what happened to the Other Wybie for his disobedience. Appearance: ' Other Wybie looks alot like the real Wybie of course, but some noticeable differences (not counting the impossible-to-overlook button eyes) is that both his jacket and gloves are pattern-less. Other Wybie cannot be seen without a smile on his face, to make Coraline feel more comfortable in the Other World and to help her believe that he was a friend to her. The exception was when he deliberately frowns at the Other Mother while Coraline isn't looking, and even after the beldam gives him a rather threatening gesture to keep smiling, he only hangs his head miserably. Other Wybie also holds himself differently from the real Wybie; his shoulders aren't as hunched and his head isn't dipped to the side. The Other Wybie also does not once wear Wybie's welder's mask helmet, and he doesn't ride a motorbike (it is understandable why the Other Mother thought it prudent to ommit this prop, given that the real Wybie almost ran Coraline over with it and therefore she must not like it much). 'Personality: Unlike the real Wybie, the Other Wybie is sweet and considerate and a good listener, given that he is incapable of speech. The Other Mother removed it because she thought Coraline would like him more if 'he spoke a little less'. Apparently it worked, because Coraline comes to accept him as a friend and enjoys talking to him, even though the conversations are one-way. She likes him considerably better than the real Wybie (as is the case with all the other Others), and she believes he is true to her even after it is revealed that the Other World is all a trap (Coraline the Other Father: "..I'm going to find the Other Wybie. He'll help me.") She is remorseful for throwing him against the walls in fright when he'd freed her from the mirror-room, and unhooks his face when she pulls off his mask and sees his horrible forced smile. She is also visibly upset when she sees the Other Wybie's clothes hung up and she realises the Other Mother destroyed him, even after she'd shouted to the other Mother that she was unafraid. It is implied that him Wybie and Coraline contain a 'love-hate' relationship, but only Wybie seems to show his feelings, sometimes... Category:Characters Category:Male Characters Category:heroes